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One worker told the Daily Record: "We’ve been treated in a disgusting way. People think Waitrose are a good company to work for but this shows up the management for the mean and wasteful bosses they are.

“All we have done is to eat some food that was going to be thrown in the bin.

“Mostly it was just extra chips that had been cooked and then weren’t needed or toasties that had been put on before an order was cancelled.

“The rules are that such food can’t be reheated, so it has to be thrown out.

“It seemed reasonable that the staff – most of whom are on a fraction over the minimum wage – might eat some of it rather than see it going to waste.

“Four of those workers have now had disciplinary meetings and been sacked – all for eating a handful of chips that would have been thrown away anyway.”

Another employee at the store thinks Waitrose wanted to remove the staff so they could bring in new workers who they would not need to pay Sunday and overtime rates.

Earlier this year, Waitrose were accused of cutting Sunday and overtime rates for new staff to help pay for the new national living wage.

The worker told the Daily Record: "The company website had an ad up looking for new cafe staff the day after they suspended everyone."

“None of the new starts will be given the overtime rates that we were entitled to.”